Samsung Electronics and IBM ink patent cross-license deal
Samsung Electronics and IBM have announced a patent cross-license agreement, under which the companies will license their respective patent portfolios to each other.
Over the past several decades, IBM and Samsung have built strong patent portfolios covering a wide range of technologies including semiconductors, telecommunications, visual and mobile communications, software and technology-based services. The companies said the cooperation fostered by cross-licensing reinforces their ability to provide better products and services while maintaining their competitiveness.
According to Dr. Seungho Ahn, Executive Vice President and Head of the IP Center, Samsung Electronics, this licensing agreement will help both companies expedite innovation and achieve business growth by providing each company access to the other’s patents for basic technologies. The company also hopes that the agreement will open new opportunities for wider collaboration between two of the leading innovators in the technology industry.
As per Ken King, Vice President, Patents, Software & Services IP Licensing for IBM, patents and innovation are a critical component of IBM’s high-value business strategy. In addition to protecting the huge investment we make in R&D, patents also allow them to establish cross-licenses, which provide IBM and partners like Samsung significant freedom of action, which is essential in the competitive global business environment.
Specific terms and conditions of the agreement were not disclosed.
Pay mobile bills of TATA DoCoMo network via SMS (India)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Facilitating payment of the mobile bill for its customers, Tata DoCoMo and ItzCash signed an agreement wherein the users can pay their bills via SMS using an ItzCash card.
The company also said that there are no hidden costs, charge-backs and reversals and the consumers can also utilize the full value of the card with all transactions confirmed in real time.
As per the service, users of TATA DoCoMo will have to SMS the keyword ‘PAYBILL’, amount to be paid, account number of the ItzCash and password and send it to 121.
ItzCash Card is available at ItzCash franchisees in denominations ranging from Rs. 100 to Rs. 10,000. Orders for the card can be placed online by the customers.
TATA and BSNL enter Network Sharing deal (India)
Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL), India’s fastest-growing pan India telecom service provider, today announced the signing of a landmark ‘Master Services Agreement for Passive Infrastructure Sharing’ with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).
Becoming the first Indian private telecom operator to enter into an agreement of this nature. The agreement which is valid for 15 years will be applicable to both Tata Teleservices Limited and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited in all of India’s 22 telecom Circles.
This is a moment of pride for us, as we have become the first private telecom operator to enter into such a strategically important agreement with BSNL, one that will allow us to expand our telecom footprint across the country much more quickly,†Mr Madhav Joshi, President, Legal and Regulatory Affairs, Tata Teleservices Limited, said.
The agreement comes at a very strategic time for Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited (TTML), as both companies have been aggressively expanding their network presence on the CDMA side with Tata Indicom, while also rolling out GSM services under the TATA DOCOMO brand name. In the short space of just three months, we have already rolled out our GSM services in nine Circles—Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Orissa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh and Haryana,†Mr AG Rao, Chief Technology Officer, Tata Teleservices Limited, said. This agreement has the potential to not just speed up our network expansion and rollout process, but would also have a substantial impact in terms of reduced costs,†he added.
Under the terms of the agreement, TTSL and TTML will have access to thousands of BSNL towers all across the country.
MVNO deal signed by Tele2 in Germany
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) agreement has been signed between Tele2 Telecommunications Services GmbH and VIAG Interkom in Germany as per which Tele2 will use Interkom’s wireless network to provide the air interface for Tele2′s fixed line customers.
With over 1 million residential and business fixed telephony customers, Tele2 is one of Germany’s largest Indirect Access Operators.
According to Lars-Johan Jarnheimer, President and CEO of Tele2 AB, Germany is the largest telecoms market in Europe and this MVNO will enable Tele2 to offer an attractively priced offering of both fixed and mobile services on one bill to its customers.
The MVNO is expected to be operational in Q2 2002.
